i would propose that the fiscal cliff is both a challenge and it's an opportunity. it's a challenge to get the federal government's runaway spending under control. but it's also an opportunity for us to make real entitlement reforms and to put in place a structure for comprehensive tax reform next year that will have enormous benefits for our economy. i hope, mr. president, that our president, the president of the united states will soon join the discussion that many of us have been having about comprehensive tax and entitlement reforms. presidential leadership on both of these critical issues is long, long overdue, and it is essential, mr. president. you cannot do big things in this country. you can't do entitlement reform, you can't do tax reform absent presidential leadership. president obama has a unique opportunity in his second term to do some things that are desperately needed for this country and to put our country on a path toward fiscal solvency, a trajectory that will ensure a brighter, better, more pros puss future for future generations of americans. bu